Incentives
by JDPhoenix
Summary: "Get up. I'm breaking you out of here."


Disclaimer: I do not own AOS or any associated characters or situations. I'm just taking them out for a spin.

AN: Spoilers for the 2x03 promo.

* * *

><p>His cell is as dark as she remembers. When she first appears at the top of the stairs, he looks briefly interested but by the time she reaches his level he's reclining on the bed, ignoring her. She tosses the bag she carries in his general direction. There's no danger of it striking the barrier. It lands with a solid <em>thunk<em> barely an arm's length ahead of her, which is enough to earn her a lifted eyebrow but little else.

"Get up," she says.

He very pointedly puts his arms behind his head. She stamps down the urge to yell at him. It's not his fault; he doesn't realize they're on a time limit.

"Coulson says you've been gone," he says lazily, "so you may not have heard. I only talk to Skye."

She _could_ point out that he's talking to her now but that would be childish and a waste of time they don't have. "I'm breaking you out of here."

That at least gets him to sit up. He looks from her to the bag and back again. She kicks it and the weapons inside rattle.

"I hope it's enough. We can stop for more on the way out if it isn't."

"Why would you break me out?" He's understandably cautious, that doesn't make her any less impatient. She pulls at the collar of her shirt, fingers dragging along her skin and catching on the cool metal chain she wears.

"Eight hours ago the team 'rescued' me from HYDRA. How much longer do you think it will take them to activate my incentives program?" She nearly chokes out the words and her eyes burn but she does not cry, which is no small feat considering.

Ward has the audacity to smile, a cocky little twist of his lips that makes her fists clench reflexively. "So what do you want me for? Help getting you out of here and back to them? Or do you think I'll help you rescue whichever of your parents HYDRA's got?" He shrugs and shifts his weight, threatening to lean back against the mattress again. "Either way you're out of luck, Simmons. I'm fine right where I am."

"I don't care," she says thinly. "I don't care if you only help me get back or if you help me burn HYDRA to the ground, but you _will_ come with me. I've read your psych profiles - SHIELD's and HYDRA's - I know you'll do this."

"People change."

She shakes her head and steps up to the barrier. "Not this much." She lifts a hand and the barrier glows threateningly at the proximity. "It's impossible to break out of this alone but if you apply pressure at a single point from both sides, the barrier will collapse on itself."

Despite his assertions that he's happy where he is, he rises and comes to stand opposite her.

"What makes you so sure I'll help you? After everything?" He seems genuinely curious and if he wants out, he's hiding it well. His arms are crossed, the distance between them too great for the barrier to react to him at all. She's sure any second May or Trip or Skye will burst in and she needs him out before that happens.

She reaches beneath her collar and tugs the chain. The locket on its end swings free of her shirt and she catches it in her hands. She holds it up for Ward to see the picture inside. He leans close, closer. His face goes pale beneath the beard and the barrier snaps out at him, forcing him to pull back. He barely even reacts beyond that, his eyes going instantly to the locket again as the light fades. His mouth opens and his throat works silently. He swallows and drags his eyes up to hers.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"You don't." She snaps the locket shut and tucks it back beneath her clothing. "But you spent months spying on all of us on the Bus. You're the only man I slept with in that time."

He nods. His eyes are on her chest, on the exact spot the locket's hidden. He sighs raggedly and lifts a hand to the barrier. Jemma does the same.

The next thing she knows her vision is blurry and her whole body hurts and people are yelling. She hears gunfire. Ward grabs her arm and lifts her roughly from where the barrier threw her against the wall. She follows him up the stairs without a fight. This was the plan, after all.

She doesn't look at the agents he's already taken out, tries not to hear the yells from those he shoots in the hall. She knew what she was doing, there's no point in crying over it now.

"This way," she says, and tugs him down the hall, deeper into the detention level.

There's a backdoor down here, one she's not supposed to know about. Skye told her about it months ago when they were first learning their way around the base, so of course she'll know they're using it, but all the attacks will be coming from behind them and it'll take hours to send anyone to the outlet point to stop them there.

Ward doesn't question her plan or even that she has one, just keeps himself between her and the way they've come, watching her back. She figures he's still in a bit of shock over the whole thing or he'd be demanding information.

It's a sign of just how thin Coulson's forces are that they don't meet more resistance along the way. Ward has to jimmy the backdoor open once they reach it and she clambers in ahead of him to set up the corrosive agent that will render the door unopenable once it's closed behind them.

"What is it?" Ward asks. She tries to look over his shoulder to see whatever new weapon the others have brought against them but he pushes her back behind him. She's about to protest that she can't identify something without seeing it, when he elaborates. "Boy or girl?"

Right. She never told him. "Boy. He's beautiful." She doesn't mean to say it, it just sort of slips out.

Ward smiles, a real Ward smile like the kind he used to wear on game night back on the Bus. It turns vicious a moment later as a fresh hail of gunfire comes from the opposite end of the hall. She shouldn't, but she finds herself smiling while he takes down the agents. They're going to make it.


End file.
